The cheese factory that is being investigated as a possible source of infection of a salmonellosis outbreak belongs to Higinio Hernández, former Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of the Cabildo de Lanzarote. While waiting for the results of the Health Department to confirm whether or not these cheeses are the origin of the salmonella tiphymurium outbreak that has affected at least 14 people on the island, Hernández has assured La Voz that in his analyses "it does not appear" that bacteria.
The Health Department confirmed last week that the General Directorate of Public Health of the Canary Islands Government had "cautiously" stopped both the production and distribution of that cheese factory on February 5, after sending inspectors to those facilities. Hernández, however, states that "production has never been prohibited, distribution has been prohibited." "We have been prohibited from marketing, nothing more, but always as a precaution. Everything is precaution, precaution, precaution," he says. In fact, as he has assured La Voz, the cheese factory continues to produce cheeses. "We are producing, effectively, we are not marketing, but we are producing," the former minister has acknowledged.
Higinio Hernández insists that the company, "La Flor de Teguise", carries out its own controls. "We are producing and the cheese is in good condition. We cannot market, but it is in the chamber. Production has never been prohibited, distribution has been prohibited. But come on, we are analyzing milk and cheese and so far we have not detected anything," he stressed. Regarding the order given to him by the Health Department to withdraw the product from the establishments, Hernández has assured that "all the product has been withdrawn from the street" and that "there is nothing on the market."
"If it is in good condition, how can I be afraid?"
According to this businessman, "production can never be prohibited." "If you produce and analyze the cheese and it is in good condition, it is not in the machine (the bacteria). If you analyze and it is not in the milk either... In production, really, being in good condition you cannot prohibit producing. Marketing, as long as the source is not detected, where it comes from, you cannot, but the batches that are in good condition, that is analyzed by the Health Department and by us," he says. Asked precisely if he is not afraid to continue producing without knowing where the bacteria is, he replies: "If you analyze the milk and analyze the cheese and it is in good condition, how can I be afraid?"
Although he admits that he does not know the details to "delve" into these analyses, since he says that it is his son who manages them and is in contact with the Health Department, the former minister of the Cabildo reiterates that the cheese factory has not "detected anything." As he explains, the company is "collaborating" with the Health Department to find the origin of the intoxication. "We really don't know either," he says. He acknowledges, however, that they are worried. "How are we not going to be worried? We ensure the health issue 100% since we are producing and of course we are worried."
Meanwhile, the General Directorate of Public Health of the Canary Islands Government continues to "investigate" that outbreak. From this department they have indicated this Tuesday that they are still waiting for the results of the cheese cultures, which will determine if the origin of the intoxication is in this product. What the Ministry did confirm in past days is that the "nexus" between all those affected known so far is the "consumption" of that cheese. So far, the Health Department has confirmed that at least 14 people have been intoxicated, of which 3 needed hospitalization, although all have already been discharged.
